Revealing the Future II
by Marauder2184
Summary: Sequel to Revealing the Future, James, Lily and the crew embark on their next adventure to learn about their son Harry.
1. Chapter 1

**1. Travel Mishaps**

**OMG! Yes, yes you did read this right this is the sequel! Yep!**

**I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER! Never will :(**

**So. Some of you might hate me... some of you might love me... but this is how I am doing it so I hope you read it and enjoy it!**

**Thanks**

**REVIEW!**

**Happy Reading!**

**xxxxMarauder2184**

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"What are you doing here?"

Lily, and James looked at the teenage boy in front of them. He didn't bare any signs to be related to them so they just stared. Still trying to recover from the fact that they just traveled to the future something that was deemed impossible by the Ministry of Magic.

Albus Dumbledore looked at the boy. He had no idea who the child was, but he knew the boy had the answers his students were looking for.

"Do you know who we are?" asked Lily carefully looking at the boy trying to figure out who he was. By age he guessed he was maybe a few years older than them. But not many.

"I know who you are." said the boy slowly his eyes scanning the room pausing briefly on Remus before looking back over to the couple.

"How did you get here?" he asked taking a step back from the group and taking his wand from the table next to his bed, this action was not missed by the teenagers nor the headmaster.

"We time traveled." said the Headmaster curtly.

"That's impossible." said the boy.

"We are here to find out more about the books." said Sirius somewhat impatient.

"We told you not to go to Dumbledore."

"I know.' said James guiltily shaking his head.

"But you went anyway." said the boy.

"Yes. I was angry. I needed to know what was going on." said James somewhat angrily.

"I cannot disclose the information that you seek." said the boy and the headmaster frowned. Teddy Lupin did not miss the disappointment.

"I along with some other people made a decision that allowed you to read the books you failed to follow the simplest rule how can we trust you to follow the rest?"

The group of teenagers shifted uncomfortably.

"Can we promise that we won't do it again?" asked Alice quietly from the back. Severus rolled his eyes.

"If you allow me to obliviate you and return you home where you belong you may receive the next book." said the boy. The teenagers exchanged glances.

"Fine." said Lily and walked in front of the boy. James was about to stop her but she glared at him.

"We are here because of you, I want to know what happens to my son." she snapped, but James didn't budge.

"Me first." he said and took his place before the outstretched hand of the boy.

"Good bye James Potter." said the boy and with a silent wave of his wand James was gone in a bright flash.

"Where did he go!" yelled Sirius running to the place where his best friend was only moments ago.

"He is safely back in the time period where you all belong." snapped the boy staring at the young Sirius Black. This was the man that his godfather adored and looked up to. Teddy was not sure what made the teenager before him so admirable.

"Who is next?" asked Teddy looking at Lily who nodded, with a flash she too disappeared from the room. One by one each newcomer was gone until only one remained in the room.

"Are you Remus?" whispered the boy. Remus Lupin looked at the boy and nodded, he wasn't sure if he imagined it but he could have sworn the boy's eyes turned a different shade of green one that could closely resemble his own.

"Obliviate." said the boy. The only time he said the spell out loud. The last thing that Remus saw before disappearing into the swirling world of time travel were tears falling down the boy's face and milliseconds later that memory became a dreamlike thought that dissolved once he felt his feet touch the solid ground.

"Are we in a different time?" asked Sirius looking around the headmaster's office.

"I didn't feel anything happen." said Frank thoughtfully.

"That's because it didn't work." said Albus looking at the time turner oddly. Something was amiss but he couldn't figure out what it was.

"Something worked." said Lily slowly as she saw a note on the table.

"What does it say?" asked Remus walking closer to the girl, his head still cloudy from the unknown time travel.

Dear Readers: Lily Evans, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Alice Haglesburn, Frank Longbottom, Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore.

Even though you disobeyed our rules it has been decided that we are giving you another chance at reading. So until we tell you to you must keep this between your selves and ONLY yourselves. Another mistake and I am afraid we will not be as lenient. With this book comes something new so I hope you find it useful. When you are done with this letter burn it and the next book will be in your possession.

Until next time.

Loving Friends.

"So we still don't know who they are." said Remus. It annoyed him because he hated when he couldn't figure out mysteries.

"I am sure they will tell us eventually." said Lily warmly and handed the letter off to James.

"You messed up the first time. Go fix it." James looked down at the piece of paper in his hands and then at the fire, slowly making his way towards he crouched and threw the note into the blaze. He soon felt a hand on his shirt dragging him back as the fire roared into life whips of fire licking at the stone ground in front, then with a bright flash a book appeared on charred stone. James leaned forward to get it and then something crashed into his head.

"Wha..."

"Bloody hell!"

The seventh year Gryffindor looked down at the thing, or actually the person that fell on him.

"What do you think you're doing?" asked James staring at the little red head, he couldn't have been older than a third year.

"I was just getting on the train when... who are you?" asked the boy whipping his nose absently staring at the group around him. Sending very questionable looks to the headmaster who looked much, much younger. Ron could have sworn the man deaged in the matter of an hour.

"I am James Potter the Head Boy." said James standing up to his full height and looking down at the little boy who was now gaping at him like a fish with his mouth wide open and eyes the size of saucers.

"You're Harry's dad!" he exclaimed. Before any one could confirm the statement the red haired Weasley frowned.

"But you are dead." he looked around the room spotting Lily. He now recognized her from pictures that Harry had.

"So are you!"

"We aren't dead." said Lily kindly still surprised at the boy's sudden appearance.

"May I ask who you are?"

"Well I am Ron Weasley, Har.."

"Harry's best friend." finished Sirius smiling at the boy.

"Umm well yes." Ron wrang his hands, he wasn't very comfortable with the situation after all Harry's parents were dead, after a full year of drama with the Basilisk and Tom Riddle he wasn't sure he could handle this as well.

His internal battles were interrupted by the headmaster.

"Mr. Weasley may I ask what year do you think this is." he asked. Ron frowned.

"1992?" he asked, the looks on the teenagers around him told him that he was most definitely wrong.

"This is 1978." said Frank.

"Oh." said Ron. He stared at the people before him at loss for words he wished Hermione was there to tell him the best route of action. Lily sensed the boy's discomfort.

"We are reading books about the future. About you. I think you were sent here to help us." she said quickly. Ron turned his head to her.

"But how am I supposed to help you read a book?" he asked.

"What year did you just finish?" asked Alice.

"My second."

"Well we just finished the first book so maybe you will help us fill in the gaps in the second book we don't understand."

"Okay.." said Ron, he watched as the teenagers pulled chairs closer to the fire. Noting that his dreaded Potion's Professor was also there but decided for the time being that he was going to keep his mouth shut. He was Dumbledore holding the book.

"May I read first?" he asked. The Headmaster nodded and handed the red head the book. Ron looked at the title and then the cover of the book.

"Prisoner of Azkaban?" he asked.

"Azkaban?" said Frank, very confused seeing as very few people, well unless they were prisoners had much to do with the dreaded prison, so why would Harry?

"We didn't have anything to do with Azkaban our second year." said Ron. Clearly very confused, he looked around the room for another book.

"This is the only one we got." said James.

"Why don't we start reading it to see where in the time period we actually are." suggested the Headmaster.

"Okay."

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

by J.K. Rowling

CHAPTER ONE

OWL POST

Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways. For one thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year. For another, he really wanted to do his homework but was forced to do it in secret, in the dead of night. And he also happened to be a wizard.

"Are they going to remind us that he is a wizard in every book?" laughed Sirius.

"Padfoot we only have read one." said Remus.

"Well yes, but the pervious book clearly established that he was a wizard. No need to remind us." reasoned Sirius. Remus just shook his head, not bothering to argue his point.

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**Woo! Chapter 1 Complete :) Stay tuned for the next one!**

**Review!**

**PLEASE NOTE: if you have decided to read the sequel please stop telling me how much you hate the way I write the characters. This is how I have chosen to write it, and if you don't like it I am kindly asking you to stop reading. **

**Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Hellooo Everyone!**_

_**I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER.**_

**_REASON WHY I SKIPPED CoS. _**

**_The reality of the situation is that there is a chance that I might not ever finish this series. I am pretty busy and fanfiction that I started writing when I was about 14 years old does not really fit into my adult schedule. I am writing this because it is relaxing and I LOVE Harry Potter, but I am not stressing over it. I have chosen to return to the story because so many people have messaged me, and commented and asked me to continue. So I have. I skipped CoS and there is a chance I will skip more books, maybe I'll have them watch a HP movie... or travel to the future or who knows what it is. But if any of you hope to see an ending to this series expect that my skipping of CoS will not be the only contraversial act. I want to present a piece of work that my avid readers will enjoy, and the last thing I want is to leave everyone hanging. So please accept that CoS will not be written, I apologize for the inconveniece I have caused, and I hope you continue to enjoy my stories!_**

**_If you have any questions comments or concerns do not hesitate to leave me a review, but if you'd like a personal response leave me a PM!_**

**_Thanks and enjoy!_**

**_xxxxMarauder2184_**

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**CHAPTER ONE**

**OWL POST**

**Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways. For one thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year. For another, he really wanted to do his homework but was forced to do it in secret, in the dead of night. And he also happened to be a wizard.**

"Are they going to remind us that he is a wizard in every book?" laughed Sirius.

"Padfoot we only have read one." said Remus.

"Well yes, but the pervious book clearly established that he was a wizard. No need to remind us." reasoned Sirius. Remus just shook his head, not bothering to argue his point. Ron laughed and then went back to reading.

**It was nearly midnight, and he was lying on his stomach in bed, the blankets drawn right over his head like a tent, a flashlight in one hand and a large leather-bound book (A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot) propped open against the pillow.**

**Harry moved the tip of his eagle-feather quill down the page, frowning as he looked for something that would help him write his essay, "Witch Burning in the Fourteenth Century Was Completely Pointless discuss."**

"It was pointless because muggles have no idea how to identify a wizard, therefor were burning their own kin." said Lily. James laughed. Ron however frowned at the book.

"Is something wrong?" asked Dumbledore seeing the puzzled look on the boy's face. Ron looked at him, then looked back to the cover of the book.

"I don't think that this is our second year." he said slowly. He was sure that the creature on the cover was not one they encountered either their first or second year at Hogwarts. Ron was throughly confused.

"So what year do you think this is?" asked Sirius curiously looking at the boy trying to guess for himself. Ron shrugged, he had no idea, he wasn't even sure if this was real the entire situation felt so surreal that he could have easily assumed it was a dream. If it didn't all look so life-like...

"I think he would be in third." said a silky voice from the shadows of the room. Everyone turned to Severus.

"Why do you think that?" asked Frank.

"Well, first off the boy says he is thirteen," said Severus recalling an earlier piece of information that was overlooked by everyone.

"Also he just said this book isn't about his second year which leaves third." finished the Slytherin.

"So they didn't give us the second book! What if we miss something!" flustered Lily very frustrated with the idea that she would be missing vital information regarding her precious son.

"I think that is why Mr. Weasley is here with us." said the Headmaster finally understanding the situation and smiled brightly at the little Gryffindor. Ron in return just looked at them funny.

"So I'm supposed to..." he didn't finish the sentence before the entire group nodded. Ron took a deep breath. Looking around at his best friend's dead yet very much alive parents was extremely overwhelming. He felt uncomfortable. He wanted Hermione to be there to take her usual lead and explain what was going on, or even Harry who would have jumped into the situation with out blinking an eye. Despite always wanting to have his own adventure this is not what he had in mind.

Noticing the boy's discomfort Lily decided to pipe in.

"Why don't you keep reading and you can fill us in on your previous year as you go or if we have questions." said Lily casually, although she really did not want to wait she didn't want to put the boy under too much pressure. Ron nodded and cleared his throat and began reading again.

**The quill paused at the top of a likely-looking paragraph. Harry Pushed his round glasses up the bridge of his nose, moved his flashlight closer to the book, and read:**

"Do we actually need to know what it says?" whined Sirius, he already knew everything about the Witch hunts of the fourteenth century.

"Yes we actually have to read this." said Remus.

**Non-magic people (more commonly known as Muggles) were particularly afraid of magic in medieval times, but not very good at recognizing it. On the rare occasion that they did catch a real witch or wizard, burning had no effect what so ever. The witch or wizard would perform a basic Flame Freezing Charm and then pretend to shriek with pain while enjoying a gentle, tickling sensation. Indeed, Wendelin the Weird enjoyed being burned so much that she allowed herself to be caught no less than forty seven times in various disguises.**

"What an idiot." mumbled Severus, which made Ron laugh and then cringe a little when the teenage Slytherin glared at him. Ron locked eyes with his most hated professor.

"Is there a reason why you are staring at me Weasley?" asked the black haired man his onyx eyes drilling holes in the boy.

"Just wondering why you are here." snapped Ronald. It was quite obvious that the boy greatly disliked Severus Snape, which wasn't much of a surprise given that Severus was far from pleasant as a Potion's Instructor.

"I've been wondering the same thing." mumbled Snape. The Marauder crew rolled their eyes and nodded to Ron to continue.

**Harry put his quill between his teeth and reached underneath his pillow for his ink bottle and a roll of parchment. Slowly and very carefully he unscrewed the ink bottle, dipped his quill into it, and began to write, pausing every now and then to listen, because if any of the Dursleys heard the scratching of his quill on their way to the bathroom, he'd probably find himself locked in the cupboard under the stairs for the rest of the summer.**

Lily glared at the book.

"They wouldn't dare put him back in that cupboard." said James.

"They wouldn't, they probably put new bars on his windows though." said Ron absently. He did not notice the looks he got from Lily and James.

"New bars?" asked Alice cautiously. Ron looked at them and nodded.

"In the beginning of the year my older brothers and I decided to go rescue him from his uncle and aunt, he had bars on his window that we had to break through in order to get to him." The casualness of that statement bothered the group greatly.

**The Dursley family of number four, Privet Drive, was the reason that Harry never enjoyed his summer holidays. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and their son, Dudley, were Harry's only living relatives. They were Muggles, and they had a very medieval attitude toward magic.**

"Medieval doesn't even begin to descrive it." said Frank, feeling quite sorry for his friend's son. If there was one thing that he could take comfort in was that his grandmother was taking much better care of his own son.

"I don't want him going there. Why in the world would you send Harry there?" whined Lily, which came as a shock to everyone in the group seeing as they rarely saw the girl be nothing but articulate and polite. Dumbledore looked at the girl apologetically. While he understood his own reasoning he knew that no explanation was going to placate the girl or her friends.

**Harry's dead parents, who had been a witch and wizard themselves, were never mentioned under the Dursleys' roof for years, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had hoped that if they kept Harry as down trodden as possible, they would be able to squash the magic out of him.**

"He didn't know anything about magic." said Ron sadly, remembering the very first conversation the two had on the train to Hogwarts.

"I will squash my sister next time I see her." said Lily through gritted teeth. Alice put a calming hand on her friend's shoulder.

"I am afraid you can't do any damage yet Lils." she said. Lily just glared. Ron inched slightly away from the witch, he did not know much about Lily Potter but what he had heard from his parents and Harry and others who happened to know the woman he knew that she was not one to cross. She didn't seem as scary as his own mother at times, but if there is one thing that Ron learned in his short life on earth was never to cross a protective mother. He continued to read.

**To their fury, they had been unsuccessful. These days they lived in terror of anyone finding out that Harry had spent most of the last two years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The most they could do, however, was to lock away Harry's spell books, wand, cauldron, and broomstick at the start of the summer break, and forbid him to talk to the neighbors.**

"How is he going to do homework!" exclaimed Lily. James rolled his eyes while the rest of the group laughed.

"Well if he doesn't finish anything Mione will let him copy hers." said Ron. He realized he said something wrong when the future mother of his best friend glared at him.

"Oh.. I mean she would check it over..." he stopped talking his face turning beat red and went back to reading the book.

**This separation from his spell books had been a real problem for Harry, because his teachers at Hogwarts had given him a lot of holiday work.**

"As usual." grumbled Sirius, who was always very angry when he actually had to do some work over the summer.

"Isn't there something you could do about the amount of work we get?" asked Alice hopefully turning to the headmaster who simply smiled at the girl and shook his head.

"I am afraid I am not in charge of the subjects and your teachers have the right to assign any work they deem necessary."

**One of the essays, a particularly nasty one about shrinking potions, was for Harry's least favorite teacher, Professor Snape, who would be delighted to have an excuse to give Harry detention for a month.**

"If you give my son a detention because he couldn't do the work thanks to those muggles I will curse you." said Lily.

"I wouldn't give him a detention if he had a legitimate reason to why he didn't do it." said Severus. Ron snorted at that comment.

"Yeah you would! You hate him!"

"I don't hate Mr. Potter." snapped Severus.

"Yes you do! You always pick on him! Tell him how awful he is and give him detentions for stupid reasons and you wouldn't blink twice if you had the excuse to expel him!" yelled the boy. Severus sighed and put his head into his hands. Ron hesitated and looked at the man. Well boy, it was odd to have people who were adults in his life suddenly become teenagers in front of his eyes.

"I don't hate Harry." He said quietly. "I hated his father, and took my anger out on him." he whispered, if you weren't listening you would have missed the sentence all together. James looked at his once upon a time enemy. The two teenagers locked eyes a flow of understanding passing between them. They were willing to put their past behind them. They wouldn't be best friends, and Severus was not suddenly going to join the Marauders, but together they were going to the change the future and Severus would help. Not for James's sake. But for Lily's and Harry's.

**Harry had therefore seized his chance in the first week of the holidays. While Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley had gone out into the front garden to admire Uncle Vernon's new company car (in very loud voices, so that the rest of the street would notice it too), Harry had crept downstairs, picked the lock on the cupboard under the stairs, grabbed some of his books, and hidden them in his bedroom. As long as he didn't leave spots of ink on the sheets, the Dursleys need never know that he was studying magic by night. Harry was particularly keen to avoid trouble with his aunt and uncle at the moment, as they were already in an especially bad mood with him, all because he'd received a telephone call from a fellow wizard one week into the school vacation.**

"What idiotic wizard calls?" said Severus with disbelief. Ron once again turned bright read when he silently read the name that followed. He stuttered over his own name.

**Ron Weasley, who was one of Harry's best friends at Hogwarts, came from a whole family of wizards. This meant that he knew a lot of things Harry didn't, but had never used a telephone before. Most unluckily, it had been Uncle Vernon who had answered the call.**

"Baby Prongslet never gets lucky does he?" asked Sirius.

"Why in the world would you call?" asked Alice, turning to the red faced boy.

"Well the previous year I sent letters but he didn't answer any of them I couldn't risk not hearing from him." said Ron defensively.

"Why didn't he get letters?" asked the Headmaster, there was no reason that owl mail would be stopped in the muggle world.

"Because an elf named Dobby who we later found out was Malfoy's elf stopped every letter from going to Harry in hopes that he wouldn't go to Hogwarts again." said Ron.

"Why would an elf care whether or not Harry went to school?" asked Remus.

"Um, well the elf believed that the school would be dangerous because he heard from Mr. Malfoy that something bad would happen so he wanted to keep Harry from going. He also arrived at the house and ended up getting Harry into trouble with both the muggles and wizards because he used magic to dump a cake on a family guest." recited Ron.

"So you are telling us, that an elf went against his master to talk to someone and then got them into trouble by using magic around them?" asked James feeing rather aggravated elves had no right to defy their masters.

"Yep!" replied Ron not being prepeared to answer more awkward questions he quickly kept on reading a tactic he knew was not going to last long with the group.

**"Vernon Dursley speaking. "Harry, who happened to be in the room at the time, froze as he heard Ron's voice answer.**

"Why would you be in the same room as him?" gasped Sirius dramatically at the book making Ron giggle. However he quickly paled as he read the next sentence and tried to read it in the most quiet voice ever.

**"HELLO? HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME? I-WANT-TO-TALK-TO-HARRY-POTTER!"**

"Did it not occur to you that you should ask someone how to use the machine before attempting it?" asked Severus in his snide voice.

**Ron was yelling so loudly that Uncle Vernon jumped and held the receiver a foot away from his ear, staring at it with an expression of mingled fury and alarm. "WHO IS THIS?" he roared in the direction of the mouth piece. **

Ron felt very self concious to be reading about himself.

"Well you know it is an easy mistake to make." said Sirius who recalled an incident when he tried to call a muggle girl he met in a park and ended up getting dragged away by the muggle police because he was yelling so loud in the phone booth causing many muggles to come over and investigate.

**"WHO ARE YOU?""RON-WEASLEY!" Ron bellowed back, as though he and Uncle Vernon were speaking from opposite ends of a football field. "I'M-A-FRIEND-OF-HARRY'S-FROM-SCHOOL -"Uncle Vernon's small eyes swiveled around to Harry, who was rooted to the spot.**

"Why, why would you say that!" asked James turning to Ron.

"Are you mental mate?" asked Sirius.

"Harry better not get into trouble because of this." said Alice who was beginning to feel rather protective of the boy as well.

Ron felt guilty.

**"THERE IS NO HARRY POTTER HERE!" he roared, now holding the receiver at arm's length, as though frightened it might explode.**

"Idiot."

"Dimwit."

**"I DON'T KNOW WHAT SCHOOL YOURE TALKING ABOUT! NEVER CONTACTME AGAIN! DON'T YOU COME NEAR MY FAMILY!"And he threw the receiver back onto the telephone as if dropping a poisonous spider. The fight that had followed had been one of the worst ever. **

Ron whinced. He couldn't believe he did something that was going to cause problems for his best friend. Especially with muggles that already hated his friend.

"If he touches even a hair on my son's head I will curse him for the rest of eternity." vowed Lily grasping her wand tightly. She was now pacing around glaring at the book every now and then. Everyone else in the room had loose grasps on their wands in case Lily REALLY lost her temper.

"Lils it's going to be okay." said James trying to calm the Head Girl down.

"DON'T YOU TELL ME EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OKAY JAMES POTTER!" screeched Lily making Ron jump in his seat. Lily fell onto the couch few feet away from everyone and started crying quietly. She wasn't really sure why she was so upset all of the sudden. James looked at her and was about to go to her when he felt a hand on his arm.

"Don't." said Alice. James nodded, shot Lily a guilty glance and returned to his chair nodding to Ron to continue.

**"HOW DARE YOU GIVE THIS NUMBER TO PEOPLE LIKE-PEOPLE LIKE YOU!" Uncle Vernon had roared, spraying Harry with spit. Ron obviously realized that he'd gotten Harry into trouble, because he hadn't called again. Harry's other best friend from Hogwarts, Hermione Granger, hadn't been in touch either. Harry suspected that Ron had warned Hermione not to call, which was a pity, because Hermione, the cleverest witch in Harry's year, had Muggle parents, knew perfectly well how to use a telephone, and would probably have had enough sense not to say that she went to Hogwarts.**

Ron felt really bad. He remembered the incident it had only happened weeks ago. He had no idea what to do with the strange object and it was lucky that they even managed to find the phone in his dad's garage.

**So Harry had had no word from any of his wizarding friends for five long weeks, and this summer was turning out to be almost as bad as the last one. There was just one very small improvement-after swearing that he wouldn't use her to send letters to any of his friends, Harry had been allowed to let his owl, Hedwig, out at night. Uncle Vernon had given in because of the racket Hedwig made if she was locked in her cage all the time. Harry finished writing about Wendelin the Weird and paused to listen again. The silence in the darkhouse was broken only by the distant, grunting snores of his enormous cousin, Dudley. It must be very late, Harry thought. His eyes were itching with tiredness. Perhaps he'd finish this essay tomorrow night...**

"He needs sleep, he should not be doing his homework in the middle of the night, what in the world were you thinking Albus, blood wards or not the boy is hurting in the household!" said Remus, his usual calm demeanor far gone. For some reason he too was feeling protective over the boy. Not that he didn't before, but something triggered his parental instincts. He didn't know what, but the fact that the boy was suffering so much was pulling at his heart strings.

Ron also looked at Dumbledore, this was the man that the Golden Trio idolized, he was the leading wizard of the Light side yet he seemed to have screwed up so greatly when it came to Harry. His feelings towards the man were conflicted.

**He replaced the top of the ink bottle; pulled an old pillowcase from under his bed; put the flashlight, A History of Magic, his essay, quill, and ink inside it; got out of bed; and hid the lot under a loose floorboard under his bed. Then he stood up, stretched, and checked the time on the luminous alarm clock on his bedside table. It was one o'clock in the morning. Harry's stomach gave a funny jolt. He had been thirteen years old, without realizing it, for a whole hour.**

"Happy Birthday Harry." said Alice quietly.

"Just wait till we change the future Prongslet and then I will make sure you have the MOST unforgettable birthday in the world!" promised Sirius making a big show of crossing his heart.

Ron along with Lily and James however felt sad. James and Lily were once again reminded of the fact they weren't there for their one and only son. That they failed to keep their child protected. Ron watched the tears roll down Lily's face and thought of the Mirror of Erised. If only Harry could be here now to see his own parents. It didn't feel right to sit in front of the two wizards knowing that his best friend's greatest desire to be in his place. For once Ron did not want to be in spotlight, and unfortunately for him he was stuck there and the Marauders, Lily, the Longbottoms and even Snape were given him their undivided attention. Feeling his face redden once again he continued to read.

**Yet another unusual thing about Harry was how little he looked forward to his birthdays. He had never received a birthday card in his life.**

Lily could no longer keep her tears silent and the group heard a loud sob. James despite Alice's glare got up and walked over to Lily. They were still not very close, and in any other scenario she would have repremanded him for touching her but in the moment she let him come close and hug her practically pulling her onto his lap.

"Not even a birthday card..." whispered Lily, she was mumbling something else, but through her tears James couldn't tell what she said.

"We will change it Lily." he whispered to her. He didn't know how. He didn't know when. But he knew even if it was the very last thing he ever did he would keep Lily and the baby, his son, Harry safe. And alive.

Sirius walked over to the couple.

"I will make sure that Harry will get a birthday card on every single birthday. I will do my duty as his godfather!" he announced.

"Who died and made you god father?" asked Alice.

Lily and James looked at their friends as sad as the situation was they couldn't keep themselves from laughing.

Ron saw smiles appear back on the Gryffindor's faces and kept on reading.

**The Dursleys had completely ignored his last two birthdays, and he had no reason to suppose they would remember this one. Harry walked across the dark room, past Hedwig's large, empty cage, to the open window. He leaned on the sill, the cool night air pleasant on his face after a long time under the blankets. Hedwig had been absent for two nights now. Harry wasn't worried about her: she'd been gone this long before. But he hoped she'd be back soon-she was the only living creature in this house who didn't flinch at the sight of him. Harry, though still rather small and skinny for his age, had grown a few inches over the last year. His jetblack hair, however, was just as it always had been stubbornly untidy, whatever he did to it.**

"It is pretty bad." said Ron. He was used to watching Harry try to comb his hair every morning, yet no matter what he tried, it never EVER stayed down. Even Hermione tried spells to keep it down but for some reason the hair never cooperated.

"It's the Potter gene." said James running his hand absently through his own hair, which characteristically stuck up in various directions.

"If I have to marry you I will SO tame that hair." said Lily. James threw his hands into the air.

"You are not touching my hair woman!" he yelled jumping off the couch and running across the room hiding under the desk.

"Oh you just wait and see." said Lily in a devilish voice her eyes glinting evilly.

"Prongs mate.. I would be scared if I were you." said Remus. Everyone knew that when Lily Evans wanted something. Lily Evans got it.

**The eyes behind his glasses were bright green, and on his forehead, clearly visible through his hair, was a thin scar, shaped like a bolt of lightning. Of all the unusual things about Harry, this scar was the most extraordinary of all. It was not, as the Dursleys had pretended for ten years, a souvenir of the car crash that had killed Harry's parents, because Lily and James Potter had not died in a car crash.**

"I can't believe they actually told him that." said Ron. It came to a shook to both him and Hermione when they knew more about their best friend than the boy himself.

**They had been murdered, murdered by the most feared Dark wizard for a hundred years, Lord Voldemort. Harry had escaped from the same attack with nothing more than a scar on his forehead, where Voldemort's curse, instead of killing him, had re-bounded upon its originator. Barely alive, Voldemort had fled.**

"I thought he was killed." said Remus turning to his headmaster.

"Yeah, I thought he was killed with the stone, Harry saved the Philosopher's Stone." said Lily stating the fact that they learned in the first book.

"Well not fully." said Ron.

"What do you mean?" said James, he glared at the Headmaster.

"Well last year, Harry and I and Mione found a diary that held a piece of Tom Riddle's soul. He destroyed it with a basilisk fang." The silence that followed that statement quickly alerted Ron that once again he put his foot in his mouth.

"A BASILISK FANG?" asked Lily carefully. Ron recognized the tone imidiately it was the same one his own mother used, it was the calm before the storm and he knew he had only minutes to explain himself before he was faced with an angry mother once again.

"Where was there a basilisk? Why was Harry anywhere near it?" asked Remus.

"Where did you get a diary that had a piece of Voldemort in it?" asked Sirius, his eyes glazing over.

Dumbledore looked at the teenagers. The greatest most powerful wizard of all time was quite afraid. Not only did he have eight very angry teenagers in the same room, he also had eight very powerful and extremely skilled wizards, and in a battle of one against eight. Dumbledore was not willing to take his chances, he hoped that whatever the young Mr. Weasley said would not anger the Gryffindor's too much.

"Well..." began Ron eyeing Lily who was unconciously holding her wand.

"Lily lower your wand." said Severus from his seat despite the fact that he did not care much for Weasley's comfort he knew that it was better to have the boy calm and collected versus squirming in fear of Lily Evans. The Head girl turned to him her eyes glowing but lowered the wand non the less. Ron felt a lot more comfortable.

"My little sister Ginny had the diary and it possessed her. She managed to open the Chamber of Secrets and set the Basilisk out."

"So it's real." said Severus, who heard many stories about a room created by the Slytherin original founder.

"Oh it is definitely real." said Ron.

"So what happened? How did Harry get involved?" asked Lily.

"Well... he heard the Basilisk, and for a while everyone thought he was the Heir of Slytherin because they heard him speaking to the Snake during our Dueling Club. Then students started to get petrified and eventually Ginny was taken into the Chamber and Harry and I went to rescue her."

He felt awkward retelling the story because the more he spoke about his past year the more insane it sounded.

"Where was Hermione?" asked Alice, noticing that the girl's name was absent from the story.

"Well she was one of the people that got petrified. But she figured out what the monster of the Chamber was and how it got around the school." said Ron.

"How?" asked Sirius.

"It used pipes to get around the school, which is why Harry heard the voice in the walls." Everyone sat silently thinking until a look of utter shock appeared on Sirius's face.

"Oh, he is a parseltongue. I forgot!" exclaimed Sirius, suddenly remembering a fact they learned earlier in the year whilst reading the first few chapters of the first book.

"So my son. Found this diary read it and went after the monster to save your sister?" recapped Lily.

"Well he didn't actually read the diary." said Ron.

"What do you mean he didn't actually read the diary." asked James in a very tense voice.

"Well the diary sorta... transported him through time, and blamed Hagrid on the opening of the Chamber the very first time. And so we went to Hagrid to investigate and Hagrid was sent to Azkaban while we followed some bloody spiders into the Forbidden Forest and discovered that Aragog was the creature that Hagrid had while he was in school and then we were almost killed."

Ron tried to speak as fast as possible in hopes that maybe they would miss the part where they went into the Forbidden forest. Unfortunatly for him Sirius was a very good listener.

Dumbledore listened to the youngster's story with deep interest. So it wasn't Hagrid that was responsible for the girl's death all those years ago. He was right after all to suspect Tom. Another fact that he kept to himself until a later date was the founding of a piece of Tom's soul. He now had a few very solid ideas on how Voldemort managed to stay alive.

"Students were getting attacked and you let them stay here?" said Lily horrified staring at her Headmaster who before the beginning of this "reading adventure" she had enormous amount of respect for.

"Well he wasn't actually there for the entire time..." said Ron, which made the old Headmaster look at him with interest.

"Lucius Malfoy made sure that you were removed from the seat as Headmaster because you weren't doing your job." answered Ron. He was not used to talking to the elderly headmaster so directly and this made him extremely uncomfortable. He didn't understand how Harry managed to do it.

"Well he wasn't doing his job." said Remus, under his breath. The Marauders and Ron raised their eyebrows at their quiet most polite member.

"Is there anything else we should know about your adventures with this diary?" asked James. He was very tense.

"Um.. he killed the basilisk?" said Ron wincing slightly. James's and Sirius's jaws dropped.

"He did what?"

"He killed the basilisk?" repeated Ron.

"No, I heard you the first time." snapped James. He was shocked, his son did many things that could have killed an average person ten times over. Sirius was definitely wrong, Harry was EXTREMELY lucky.

"How did Harry manage to do that, and not get killed." asked Lily, voicing the question that was tumbling in the heads of everyone else in the room.

"Well he pulled out the sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat, and stabbed the Basilisk but he was sorta bitten first and the Phoenix came and the tears healed Harry and then we were all pulled out of the Chamber." finished Ron.

James and Lily and the rest stared at Ron. They couldn't understand how the boy managed to retell the story so calmly. James was shaking like crazy trying to get his temper under control. Severus was just shocked with the entire story. Remus was angry at the Headmaster for allowing Harry to get into such danger again. Finally after a few very long minutes of silence Lily walked over to Ron and took the book out of the boy's hands.

"I need to read for a little bit." she said and Ron nodded handing over the book. Lily's clear but very tense voice filled the room.

**But Harry had come face-to-face with him at Hogwarts. Remembering their last meeting as he stood at the dark window, Harry had to admit he was lucky even to have reached his thirteenth birthday.**

Hearing that said outloud Ron thought about his friendship with Harry Potter. While it was always extremely exciting to be around the boy he never really thought how dangerous their adventures have been. Both his first and second years at Hogwarts have been filled to the brim with situations where no ordinary eleven and twelve year olds should be.

**He scanned the starry sky for a sign of Hedwig, perhaps soaring back to him with a dead mouse dangling from her beak, expecting praise. Gazing absently over the rooftops, it was a few seconds before Harry realized what he was seeing. Silhouetted against the golden moon, and growing larger every moment, was a large, strangely lop-sided creature, and it was flapping in Harry's direction. He stood quite still, watching it sink lower and lower. For a split second he hesitated, his hand on the window latch, wondering whether to slam it shut.**

"Why would you do that? It's obviously an owl." said Sirius, already over his upset mood. Sirius Black was definitely not one to stay in a bad mood for long periods of time.

**But then the bizarre creature soared over one of the street lamps of Privet Drive, and Harry, realizing what it was, leapt aside. Through the window soared three owls, two of them holding up the third, which appeared to be unconscious. They landed with a soft flump on Harry's bed, and the middle owl, which was large and gray, keeled right over and lay motionless.**

"IS IT DEAD?" yelled Sirius, almost ripping the book out of Lily's hands. He looked wildly around. Remus and James shook their heads at their best friends, after seven years of knowing the boy neither of them knew how extremely animal loving the boy was.

**There was a large package tied to its legs. Harry recognized the unconscious owl at once his name was Errol,**

"That's my owl!" exclaimed Ron.

**and he belonged to the Weasley dashed to the bed, untied the cords around Errol's legs, took off the parcel, and then carried Errol to Hedwig's cage. Errol opened one bleary eye, gave a feeble hoot of thanks, and began to gulp some water. Harry turned back to the remaining owls. One of them, the large snowy female, was his own Hedwig. She, too, was carrying a parcel and looked extremely pleased with herself. She gave Harry an affectionate nip with her beak as he removed her burden, then flew across the room to join didn't recognize the third owl, a handsome tawny one, but he knew at once where it had come from, because in addition to a third package, it was carrying a letter bearing the Hogwarts crest.**

"His letter has arrived!" said Alice happily.

"At least this time it actually arrived." said Remus, thinking of the first book.

**When Harry relieved this owl of its burden, it ruffled its feathers importantly, stretched its wings, and took off through the window into the night. Harry sat down on his bed and grabbed Errol's package, ripped off the brown paper, and discovered a present wrapped in gold, and his first ever birthday card. Fingers trembling slightly, he opened the envelope. Two pieces of paper fell out-a letter and a newspaper clipping. The clipping had clearly come out of the wizarding newspaper, the Daily Prophet, because the peoplein the black-and-white picture were moving. Harry picked up the clipping, smoothed it out, and read:**

**MINISTRY OF MAGIC EMPLOYEE SCOOPS GRAND PRIZE**

**Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic, has won the annual Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw. A delighted Mr. Weasley told the Daily Prophet,**

**"We will be spending the gold on a summer holiday in Egypt, where our eldest son, Bill, works as a curse breaker for Gringotts Wizarding Bank. " The Weasley family will be spending a month in Egypt, returning for the start of the new school year at Hogwarts, which five of the Weasley children currently attend.**

**Harry scanned the moving photograph, and a grin spread across his face as he saw all nine of the Weasleys waving furiously at him, standing in front of a large pyramid. Plump little Mrs. Weasley; tail, balding Mr. Weasley; six sons; and one daughter, all (though the black-and-white picture didn't show it)with flaming-red hair.**

"They always mention the hair." said Ron grumpily.

"Hey! Hair is important!" yelled Sirius stroking his own hair, which was practically flawless.

**Right in the middle of the picture was Ron, tall and gangling, with his pet rat, Scabbers, on his shoulder and his arm around his little sister, Ginny. Harry couldn't think of anyone who deserved to win a large pile of gold more than the Weasleys, who were very nice and extremely poor.**

Ron's face turned red once again and he looked at the ground. It was bad enough to know that he was poor but it was even worse to know that other's knew it as well. This often lead him to be very jealous of Harry who had a ton of money, however looking around the room he realized that he was really the one that had it all. After all despite having money Harry never flaunted it around and was always eager to share and Ron had the one thing that Harry wanted most. A family.

**He picked up Ron's letter and unfolded it.**

**Dear Harry, Happy birthday!**

**Look, I' really sorry about that telephone call. I hope the Muggles didn't give you a hard time. I asked Dad, and he reckons I shouldn't have shouted. It's amazing here in Egypt. Bill's taken us around all the tombs and you wouldn't believe the curses those old Egyptian wizards put on them. Mum wouldn't let Ginny come in the last one. There were all these mutant skeletons in there, of Muggles who'd broken in and grown extra heads and stuff. I couldn't believe it when Dad won the Daily Prophet Draw. Seven hundred galleons! Most of it's gone on this trip, but they're going to buy me a new wand for next year.**

**Harry remembered only too well the occasion when Ron's old wand had snapped. It had happened when the car the two of them had been flying to Hogwarts had crashed into a tree on the school grounds.**

Lily paused the reading and turned her wide green eyes to Ron, who was shrinking in his chair hoping to become invisible.

"YOU FLEW TO HOGWARTS IN A CAR!" yelled James.

"You could have been seen!" exclaimed Alice.

"You could have gotten hurt." said Remus, thinking of how unlucky the boys would have been if they ran into the Whomping Willow.

"What in the world drove you to the idea that you should fly a car to Hogwarts? Why not the train?" asked Frank.

"Where the heck did you get a flying car?" asked Sirius, though out of everyone else in the room he didn't sound mad, he was beyond impressed.

"I..uhh...umm.." Ron didn't know what to say, it was bad enough the first time when he got into trouble he really didn't want to go through it again.

"Spit it out already!" snapped Severus, who was just as interested to hear this story as everyone else.

"Well.. we tried to get on the train. But Dobby still didn't want Harry to go so he blocked the passage to the Platform and we couldn't get in. So we decided to fly my dad's car to catch up with the train, but when that didn't really work we just flew all the way to the school."

"And it didn't occur to you that you could send an owl to your parents or even the headmaster to tell them about your dilemma?" asked Severus in a harsh tone, but Dumbledore raised his hand.

"Calm down, I am sure the boys were panicked about missing the train, there was no harm done they are alive to tell the story." he said calmly.

"They crashed into a tree!" exclaimed Alice, if it was her own son she would have made sure he was grounded for an eternity afterwards. Little did she know that Ron was grounded for quite some time, when he returned home for vacation he still didn't hear the end of it. It was worse than when he and Fred and George flew to rescue Harry.

"Oh well we were fine! The Willow was probably hurt much more than we were." said Ron excitedly, his face drained of blood when he realized what he said after looking at the faces of the others.

"THE WILLOW?" yelled Remus. Causing everyone including Severus and Dumbledore flinch.

"THE WHOMPING WILLOW?" he repeated staring at the Headmaster. The Marauder's exchanged looks. Everyone in the room, but especially the Marauder's understood the danger of the psychotic tree.

"How did you manage to get out of that!" asked Lily, her heart was racing well to fast and she was feeling faint. Her son was a magnet for trouble.

"Well.. Um... I don't really know honestly." said Ron.

"Fantastic." snarled James.

"Baby Prongslet is worse than us." whispered Sirius dramatically.

"For once you said something right Black." said Lily, she couldn't imagine anyone getting into more trouble than the Marauders. She looked down at the book in her lap, took a deep breath and continued reading.

**We'll be back about a week before term starts and we'll be going up to London to get my wand andour new books. Any chance of meeting you there? Don't let the Muggles get you down! Try and come to London,**

**Ron**

**P. S. Percy's Head Boy. He got the letter last week.**

"No!" came to agonizing cry from the little red head.

"What's wrong?" asked Lily.

"Percy is the head boy." whined Ron.

"Gosh I feel bad for you Ron." said Sirius smirking at his best friend. "Those Head Boy's they are such gits!"

James punched his best friend in the stomach.

"Oww! Prongs what the merlin's pants was that for!" yelled Sirius.

"For being a jerk." replied James.

"You're act like such children!" said Lily.

**Harry glanced back at the photograph. Percy, who was in his seventh and final year at Hogwarts, was looking particularly smug. He had pinned his Head Boy badge to the fez perched jauntily on top of his neat hair, his horn-rimmed glasses flashing in the Egyptian sun. Harry now turned to his present and unwrapped it. Inside was what looked like a miniature glass spinning top. There was another note from Ron beneath it.**

**Harry-**

**This is a Pocket Sneakoscope. If there's someone untrustworthy around, it's supposed to lightup and spin. Bill says it's rubbish sold for wizard tourists and isn't reliable, because it kept lighting up at dinner last night. But he didn't realize Fred and George had put beetles in his soup.**

**Bye**

**-Ron**

"Those things are most definitely useful!" exclaimed Sirius.

"You would know you own like ten." Laughed Remus.

"I need all ten with you guys as roommates!" Sirius shot back.

"Ahh your words cut deep Padfoot. Us? We are harmless!" said James in a singsong voice pretending to stab himself in the chest.

Lily caught Severus's eye and the pair exchanged an eye roll.

**Harry put the Pocket Sneakoscope on his bedside table, where it stood quite still, balanced on its point, reflecting the luminous hands of his clock. He looked at it happily for a few seconds, then picked up the parcel Hedwig had brought. Inside this, too, there was a wrapped present, a card, and a letter, this time from Hermione.**

**Dear Harry,**

**Ron wrote to me and told me about his phone call to your Uncle Vernon. I do hope you're all right. I'm on holiday in France at the moment and I didn't know how I was going to send this to you what if they'd opened it at customs? But then Hedwig turned up! I think she wanted to make sure you got something for your birthday for a change. I bought your present by owl order; there was an advertisement in the Daily Prophet (I've been getting it delivered; it's so good to keep up with what's going on in the wizarding world), Did you see that picture of Ron and his family a week ago? I bet he's learning loads. I'm really jealous the ancient Egyptian wizards were fascinating. There's some interesting local history of witchcraft here, too. I've rewritten my whole History of Magic essay to include some of the things I've found out, I hope it's not too long it's two rolls of parchmentmore than Professor Binns asked for Ron says he's going to be in London in the last week of the holidays. Can you make it? Will your aunt and uncle let you come? I really hope you can. If not, I'll see you on the Hogwarts Express on September first!**

**Love from Hermione**

**P. S. Ron says Percy's Head Boy. I'll bet Percy's really pleased Ron doesn't seem too happy about it.**

"She got that right." grumbled Ron.

"Hermione is way too much like you Lily." said Alice.

"No she's not."

"Yes she is."

"No..."

"Mrs. Potter you are very much like Hermione." said Ron. Lily froze mid sentence and looked at Ron, who simply looked back completely oblivious. Remus and Sirius held their tongues trying to keep from saying something or laughing outloud and James watched Lily closely also trying not to laugh at the expression on his future wife's face.

"What did you just called me?" she asked in a low almost hissing voice. Ron blanched as he realized what he said, he figured out earlier upon his arrival that James and Lily were not yet together.

"Um... Mrs.. Pott.. well I mean you are Harry's mom.. so.. I...assumed..." he was stuttering growing more nervous by the second.

"Don't worry Ronald, she'll come around." said Sirius clapping the boy on the back, he could no longer keep his face straight and burst into an insane fit of laughter.

"Mrs. Potter!" he was laughing, Lily Evans did not find it amusing and in a few seconds he was on the receiving end of a stinging jinx curtesy of the Head Girl she glanced at the headmaster almost daring him to say something about her juvinal act, Dumbledore however was pretending to be interested in the books on their bookshelf. Putting down her wand she grabbed the book and continued reading.

**Harry laughed as he put Hermione's letter aside and picked up her present. It was very heavy. Knowing Hermione, he was sure it would be a large book full of very difficult spells but it wasn't. His heart gave a huge bound as he ripped back the paper and saw a sleek black leather case, with silver words stamped across it, reading Broomstick Servicing Kit.**

"The girl is amazing!" sighed James, his hands tingling with the excitment. Only a Potter could get this excited over Quidditch.

Or Oliver Wood.

**"Wow, Hermione!" Harry whispered, unzipping the case to look inside. There was a large jar of Fleetwood's High-Finish Handle Polish, a pair of gleaming silver Tall-Twig Clippers, a tiny brass compass to clip on your broom for long journeys, and a Handbook of Do-It-Yourself Broomcare. Apart from his friends, the thing that Harry missed most about Hogwarts was Quidditch, the most popular sport in the magical world highly dangerous, very exciting, and played on broomsticks. Harry happened to be a very good Quidditch player; he had been the youngest person in a century to be picked for one of the Hogwarts House teams.**

James was very jealous of that fact despite not wanting to be jealous.

**One of Harry's most prized possessions was his Nimbus Two Thousand racing broom. Harry put the leather case aside and picked up his last parcel. He recognized the untidy scrawl on the brown paper at once: this was from Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper. He tore off the top layer of paper and glimpsed something green and leathery, but before he could unwrap it properly, the parcel gave a strange quiver, and whatever was inside it snapped loudly as though it had jaws. Harry froze. He knew that Hagrid would never send him anything dangerous on purpose, but then, Hagrid didn't have a normal person's view of what was dangerous. Hagrid had been known to befriend giant spiders, buy vicious, three-headed dogs from men in pubs, and sneak illegal dragon eggs into his cabin. Harry poked the parcel nervously.**

"Jesus, Hagrid send a birthday present." said Frank. Knowing Hagrid he could send him an animal. The muggles Harry lived with would certainly not be pleased with a wild creature running around their house. Though it would be a very entertaining thing that's for sure.

**It snapped loudly again. Harry reached for the lamp on his bed side table, gripped it firmly in one hand, and raised it over his head, ready to strike. Then he seized the rest of the wrapping paper in his other hand and pulled. And out fell-a book. Harry just had time to register its handsome green cover, emblazoned with the golden title The Monster Book of Monsters, before it flipped onto its edge and scuttled sideways along the bed like some weird crab. "Uh-oh, " Harry muttered. The book toppled off the bed with a loud clunk and shuffled rapidly across the room. Harry followed it stealthily. The book was hiding in the dark space under his desk. Praying that the Dursleys were stillfast asleep, Harry got down on his hands and knees and reached toward it. "Ouch!"The book snapped shut on his hand and then flapped past him, still scuttling on its covers. Harry scrambled around, threw himself forward, and managed to flatten it. Uncle Vernon gave a loud, sleepy grunt in the room next door. Hedwig and Errol watched interestedly as Harry clamped the struggling book tightly in his arms, hurried to his chest of drawers, and pulled out a belt, which he buckled tightly around it. The Monster Book shuddered angrily, but could no longer flap and snap, so Harry threw it down on the bed and reached for Hagrid's card.**

**Dear Harry, Happy Birthday!Think you might find this useful for next year. Won't say no more here. Tell you when I see you. Hope the Muggles are treating you right. All the best, Hagrid**

Why Harry would need a monster book no one in the room understood.

**It struck Harry as ominous that Hagrid thought a biting book would come in useful, but he put Hagrid's card up next to Ron's and Hermione's, grinning more broadly than ever. Now there was only the letter from Hogwarts left. Noticing that it was rather thicker than usual, Harry slit open the envelope, pulled out the first page of parchment within, and read:**

**Dear Mr. Potter,**

**Please note that the new school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave ftom King's Cross station, platform nine and three-quarters, at eleven o'clock. Third years are permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade on certain weekends. Please give the enclosed permission form to your parent or guardian to sign. A list of books for next year is enclosed.**

**Yours sincerely,**

**Professor M. McGonagall**

**Deputy Headmistress**

"They won't sign it." said Sirius hanging his head.

"Why wouldn't they?" asked Alice.

"They are Dursleys! You think they will sign something that will make their oh so beloved nephew happy?" asked Sirius sarcastically.

"I am sure they will sign a piece of paper. It's not that much of a hardship." said Alice. However Sirius was skeptical and so were Lily and James.

**Harry pulled out the Hogsmeade permission form and looked at it, no longer grinning. It would be wonderful to visit Hogsmeade on weekends; he knew it was an entirely wizarding village, and he had never set foot there. But how on earth was he going to persuade Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia to sign the form?**

"Why can't you just let him go?" asked Frank, looking at the headmaster.

"The permission slip has to be signed by a parent or a guardian. There are no exceptions." said the headmaster, fully knowing that the excuse would not hold up against the teenagers.

"Harry is the exception!" said Lily.

"He was the exception to the Quidditch rule." said James.

"He was the exception when it came to not expelling him fifty times after he broke about a hundred rules!" said Severus.

"He was the exception when it came to putting him in front of Voldemort." growled Remus dangerously.

"What the hell are you playing at Headmaster?" asked Sirius.

Lily noticed the angry tone of Sirius's voice and quickly started reading again. If people thought her temper was bad. They have never seen Sirius Black in action.

**He looked over at the alarm clock. It was now two o'clock in the morning. Deciding that he'd worry about the Hogsmeade form when he woke up, Harry got back into bed and reached up to cross off another day on the chart he'd made for himself, counting down the days left until his return to Hogwarts. Then he took off his glasses and lay down, eyes open, facing his three birthday cards. Extremely unusual though he was, at that moment Harry Potter felt just like everyone else glad, for the first time in his life, that it was his birthday.**

"If Harry doesn't survive after all this you are going to pay." said James seriously.

"I know Mr. Potter, believe me I know." replied the Headmaster. There was not doubt in his mind that if something went wrong with the Boy Who Lived, he was not going to make it out well.

* * *

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	3. Chapter 3

HEY everybody!

PLEASE DON'T HATE ME.

The next chapter is in the works and will be out in the next few days. I need to ask my lovely and loyal readers a HUGE FAVOR.

One of my close friends is working for a company that is intersted in incorporating fanfiction into an app that they are designing. Below is a link to a survey that would REALLY help him out. Please do me this one favor an fill out. It should take about two minutes and i would GREATLY appreciate it.

forms/d/1BNnWktcOhgiG683rE7iar2zveYTIIep_O5ngPmkYl3U/viewform

The survey also has a description of his project.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help me with this. If you do end up filling out the survey if you could let me know you did that would be awesome (you can always PM me, and if not just do it anyways and he will be thankful!

He needs about 50 people to fill this out :)


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